In a recent trip to Germany my buddy and the other half of MotorworldHype.com RJ de Vera paid a visit to famed Ferrari tuner Novitec Rosso.  He got to see everything from their work bays to a few bespoke custom Ferrari customer cars.  What was RJ’s favorite part about the visit?  The giant Pirelli banners… Why?  check out the pics and you’ll see why.

So far no one has dared to take on aero or exterior modifications on the new Ferrari 458 Italia, but HAMANN did decide to take the plunge and design a custom set of wheels for it.  Pictured above are “Design Edition” forged three-piece wheels for the new Ferrari 458 Italia.  The wheels do seem to make the 458 a bit more photogenic but really the new Italia looks best in person.

I’m a little late on this but over the weekend the first round of the triple crown Targa Trophy road rally series started in LA.  A group of exotic cars met up at the W. Hotel in Hollywood before taking a trek all the way down to the W. Hotel in San Diego making stops at undisclosed destinations along the way.  It definitely sounds like an awesome way to spend a weekend with your car (especially if you’re lucky enough to own an exotic!).  Check out some of the pictures from the starting line in Hollywood below.

[Photos: Mo Satarzadeh | The ID Agency | TargaTrophy.com]

The F1 grid visited Fernando Alonso’s hometown over the weekend for the 2010 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain.  Since F1 started visiting Valencia the races have always been more than eventful.  This year was no exception!  Things started out normal enough, with Sebastien Vettel on the pole and the McLaren cars not far behind.  However, when the lights went out things immediately got dicy.  First Vettel got into Hamilton at the first corner and damaged Hamilton’s front left tire.  Lewis fought with some severe vibrations until he was able to get into the pits and have his crew address the problem.

The real fireworks came just after the halfway point of the race.  Mark Webber was barreling down on an off-pace Hekki Kovalainen.  Hekki knew that he was off the pace and attempted to make room for Mark to go by but, Mark already picked the path he would take and Hekki crossed it.  The resulting collision had Webber nearly flipping over in mid-air before landing right side up.  Luckily Webber was just shaken and stirred but not seriously hurt.

Mark Webber/Hekki Kovalainen incident:

This nasty incident naturally brought out the safety car and that is when things really got interesting.  As the safety car came out the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felpe Massa followed instructions per the rules and lined up behind the car, slowing down.  Lewis Hamilton actually passed the saftey car which is a big no-no.  As the race went on the race stewards announced that Lewis would face a drive through penalty.  But Lewis’ pace was so fast and he was so far ahead that despite having to take a leisurely cruise through the pit lane he did not lose a single position.  Ferrari was furious about this had have been spouting off about it ever since.

While all this drama was going on Sebastian Vettel was busy putting a 14 second gap on the rest of the pack.  The young German kept things smooth and drove his Red Bull Racing Renault to a victory, making him the third different winner in Valencia in the last three years.  Lewis still remains the leader in the points but with Mark Webber’s accident Sebastien was able to pass his teammate in the points standings.  Good job Sebastien!  You can check out the race re-cap by the SPEED trio.

[Photo: Andrew Hone/Getty Images]

I got my first up close look at the new Ferrari 458 Italia just a short while ago on the E3 show floor.  It was parked right in the middle of the Turn 10 Studios exhibit.  I have to say, after seeing it up close I don’t hate it as much as I used to!

Thrustmaster has just dropped a new racing wheel that is pretty much a must-have for any Ferrari fan.  Their new set up called the “Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia Edition” is as the name suggests, a replica of a Ferrari 430 Scuderia steering wheel.  Its wireless and will work with PC or PS3 (Xbox is left out in the cold) and can be put together as all one piece with the pedals or the wheel itself can be removed.  The steering column even has the Scuderia paint scheme!  If you want to rock this with any of your PC racing games or GT5 then be prepared to drop about $250 bucks on this rig.  

I caught this at the Ferrari store and it caught my eye immediately.  There are some pretty fresh Ferrari branded watches but this Lap Time Chronograph screams “classic” at me.  You can’t miss the bright red watch face and the digital read out in the middle adds a nice contrast.  This is one fresh time-piece.

I’ve always asked myself when Vorsteiner would start working on Italian supercars and it looks like that day is soon coming.  The So Cal based Euro tuner has released a few preview images of a new dry carbon rear diffuser for the Ferrari F430.  Their version is 30% lighter than the stock piece and looks pretty serious.  A release date has not been announced yet but we’ll keep you posted!

I love Ferrari stuff almost as much as I love their cars.  Just look at this Black-Carbon “Paddock” chronograph.  Isn’t this the hardest watch you’ve ever seen!?  And it also comes with carbon fiber cufflinks!  Its only draw-back is that it costs nearly a grand!  I guess only people who already have Ferrari’s can afford this thing.

I know there are some people who absolutely hate the Ferrari California and typically I’m not one to try and change opinions but dude in stock form I see nothing but beauty.  Now I find an entire program by NOVITEC ROSSO and I’m struggling in trying to figure out how some people don’t see the gratuitous amounts of awesome dripping all over this Italian hottie!  Besides the light dash of carbon fiber NOVITEC also threw on their NF3 wheels at the corners and for a bit of “ooph” an ECU tune is employed to coax an extra 40hp from the Ferrari’s high revving V8.  Oh NOVITEC ROSSO…you can do no wrong in my book..